Page 31 - Craft of Whiskey Distilling

18 | CrAFt oF WHIskEy DIstIllInG
Doughing In Term for mixing water and malt together when preparing a mash.
Foundation Water This is the water that is initially introduced into the mash tun to both warm it up and to fill the combi-tun with water to a level 1 to 2 inches above the lauter screen. This fill level prevents the malt from clogging the mash screen while you are doughing in.
Grist The ingredients used to make a mash.
Grist Hydrator A device used to spray hot water into the crushed malt as it enters the mash tun which aides in proper hydration which is required for effective and efficient starch conversion.
Hot liquor tank A fancy name for a giant water heater. This tank is used to heat the dough in water that you will introduce slowly into your grist and later to raise the tempera- ture of the water to sparge with.
lauter To separate the liquid “wort” from the malts after mashing has been completed.
lauter tun Term for a vessel where a completed mash is transferred to to allow for the separation of the malt grains (“draff ”) from the liquid portion which is known as “wort” (pronounced “wert”) or in distilling terms, “wash.” The name of this vessel comes from the German word lautern which means “to filter.”
lauter screen Also known as a false bottom, this wedge wire screen rests above the bottom of the lauter tun to allow the wort to run off while leaving the grains behind.
malted Barley The seed of the barley plant, which is a type of grass, that has been soaked in water and allowed to germinate just until the sprout is visible at the top of the seed and small rootlets develop. The germinated barley is then kilned to stop the germi- nation process. This kilning keeps the embryonic plant from consuming too much of the starch as it’s energy source for growth. It is this starch that we wish to harness for conver- sion into fermentable sugar which is made possible through the development of enzymes during the malting process. In addition to making starch accessible, the kilning process also develops the malt flavor we associate with whiskey.
mash The mixture of malted barley and water prior to fermentation.
mashing The process whereby hot water is mixed with malted barley and held at a temperature which will allow the enzymes created during the malting process to convert the starches in the malt to sugars that are fermentable, which in this case is mostly maltose, hence the origin of the word “malt.-”
mash tun Term for a vessel where the malted barley and hot water are mixed and held at a certain temperature to allow for the conversion of the starches to fermentable sugars.